Food, family and films help make an ideal weekend for this busy artist
The best time to get up in the weekend is?
The best time would be when my body naturally wakes me up, but I can’t remember what that is like due to having an 11-month-old baby, a four- and a five-year-old! I wouldn’t like to lie on too late anyway as I like to be productive and get the most out of the day.
Breakfast or brunch?
I do usually have breakfast soon after I wake, but we love brunch in our house. We quite often have a cooked breakfast at the weekends if we are at home.
What does an ideal Saturday look like?
A lie-in, and waking up at the Galgorm! Having a lovely breakfast cooked for me and then relaxing for the entire day at the spa. We are always on the go and get very little downtime, so every so often we need to indulge and switch off.
What would your perfect Sunday be like?
Going somewhere like Gosford or Hillsborough Forest Park with my husband and kids, having a walk and then enjoying a picnic and an ice-cream. Ideally then I would come home and get some peace to flick through the Sunday papers.
Do you prefer to be indoors or outdoors?
Definitely outdoors. I am a big advocate for getting my children outside at every opportunity. We’re always out in the garden or at forest parks. My older two have just learned to cycle without stabilisers, so that is helping us all get around quicker. I also love to experience plein air painting where I can be immersed in the landscape around me.
How have weekends changed as you have gotten older?
I used to lie in more and get more sleep! What has also changed is that weekends are now quite often taken up with running children to various activities and birthday parties. I have never been a big party animal, so my husband and I still make sure we spend time together once the children are in bed. Another positive is that we now live beside my parents and so definitely see family more than we used to.
If you could eat out anywhere tonight in NI, where would you go and why?
I love tasting menus as they are such a rare treat. I like how I get to try things I perhaps wouldn’t otherwise eat, and I am exposed to different foods.
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At weekends you’ll always make time to…
‘Get on top of ourselves’ as we call it. My husband likes to meal prep on a Sunday and I like to make sure childcare and other activities are taken care of for the week ahead.
Do you sometimes work at the weekends?
I am having to work every weekend at the moment as I am trying to really establish the business. I do at least one craft fair a month, but quite often more, and these always fall on a Saturday or a Sunday. It is also hard to work on commissions and original pieces when I have all the children during the week, and so I need to do a good bit at the weekends.
Who would you most like to go for a drink with and why?
My girlfriends from school. My husband and I met at school and still have a close-knit group of friends from then. Most of my friends also have children around similar ages, so our nights out have been replaced by play dates and soft play. It would be nice to get the glad rags on and have a proper catch up.
What’s your dream Sunday dinner?
A roast at my parents’ house. My mum regularly invites us round, along with my sister and her family. The children love to play together and my mum Debs makes a good spread.
Who do you normally eat Sunday dinner with and where?
We rarely cook a full Sunday dinner. Instead, we either make a brunch at the house, or if we are out, we have a picnic or eat at a café.
Too tired to cook — what are you ordering from the takeaway?
My husband is the cook in our house, but when he is too tired I enjoy anything from our local Thai takeaway.
Heading to the cinema? What film are you going to see?
We like classic gangster films like Goodfellas, so either something like this or a good thriller.
Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco in the film Goodfellas
Staying in…what TV/streaming/catch-up programmes are on the menu?
We have just finished Kin, which we enjoyed. We are also nearing the end of The Sopranos, which we are clearly watching about 20 years behind everyone else!
Michael Imperioli, left, and James Gandolfini in The Sopranos
Bedtime is?
Earlier than most people! We usually turn the lights off between 10 and 10.30pm. We’ve had a year with a baby who has been a poor sleeper at nights and likes to wake us very early!
Artist Laura Trueman has taken her maternity leave to turn her painting hobby into her dream job. The Portadown mum of three small children is now in demand for her original acrylic paintings and prints of local Northern Ireland landscapes and wildflower scenes. Her commissions are currently open. You can view her work at www.ltruemanart.co.uk